1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to snowboard bindings, in particular, snowboard bindings including conical or sloping boot retaining elements for guiding a boot into the snowboard binding.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In a large number of snowboard bindings, the boot is inserted in the binding and secured on the snowboard by loop straps which can be undone and adjusted in length. The boot is forced into its desired position on the standing surface by the loosening and tightening of the loop straps. The adjustment is cumbersome, and could result in seating that is not centered on the standing surface.
Many bindings come in the form of step-in bindings, which automatically fix the boot to the binding when the boot is positioned correctly on the standing surface. The boot is then pressed vertically downward into the binding, so that the binding boot retaining elements lock the boot to the binding surface. A hand grip is used to actuate the boot retaining elements, so that the boot can be brought into a released position in order for it to be possible for the boot to be raised out of the binding.
In some cases, there is provided a binding/boot combination for snowboards, in which the binding side boot retaining elements and locking units interact in the positively locking manner with mating locking parts arranged on the longitudinal sides of the boot. In the locking state, the binding is essentially fixed to the mating locking parts on the boot to the snowboard.
WO Patent No. 94/16784 discloses a device having a relatively small plate part arranged on the sole of a boot in the mid-foot region. The plate is rectangular in form and it includes shorter edges extending in the longitudinal direction of the boot, which interact as mating locking parts with binding-side boot-retaining and locking units. The plate is connected fixedly to a comparatively rigid foot shell of the boot, which results in the retainment of the boot on the snowboard, despite the small anchoring base of the boot on the binding.
DE-U 94 133 356 discloses a binding/boot combination in which the binding grips the boot in the heel region, beneath the heel, by way of two lateral pivot hooks. The ends of the hooks are designed in the manner of locking noses, and engage in lateral depressions which are arranged as mating locking elements on the heel region of the boot. In the toe region or ball of the foot region of the boot sole, there is a transverse web which is pushed into a fixed hook-like securing means of the binding when the snowboarder introduces the boot into the binding. This securing means in the front region of the boot, serves for increasing the fastening base of the boot on the binding. On the other hand, when the transverse web is pushed into the hook-like securing means, the boot is more or less forced into a position in which the locking noses of the binding-side pivot hooks can engage in the boot side depressions. As a result, this makes it easier to find the locking position in the boot in the binding.
None of the prior art devices ensure particularly centering and support against torsional forces. None of the prior art devices include guiding means that make it easy to introduce the boot into the binding, while allowing free configuration of the boot sole. Further, none of the devices aid the guidance of the boot as it advances vertically toward the standing surface, even when the plane of the sole is essentially parallel to the standing surface, and guides the boot sole into its desired position for fixing the boot sole to the binding, while restricting the boot increasingly in the longitudinal and transverse directions as the boot becomes closer to the standing surface.